By TOM RELIHAN
Recorder Staff
GREENFIELD — After some rocky times since its founding in 2010, the now independent Massachusetts Virtual Academy, the online public school that was started by the Greenfield School Department, has been recertified for another three years.
The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted unanimously this week to renew the K-12 cyber school’s certificate, in keeping with a recommendation from DESE Commissioner Mitchell D. Chester.
The board also voted to extend the school’s probation, which was imposed following the school’s poor performance on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test and problems with governance in 2014. The school’s probation was extended for the same three-year term as its certification.
“Continuing the school’s probationary status with conditions gives the (Greenfield Commonwealth Virtual School) board additional time to demonstrate a record of academic success as a Commonwealth Virtual School, but retains the Board’s ability to immediately suspend the school’s certificate if it does not show continuous improvement,” Chester wrote.
Chester further recommended limiting the school’s maximum enrollment to 750 students. It has never exceeded 700.
“Limiting the school’s enrollment to 750 students should focus the school’s efforts on upgrading its program of instruction rather than expanding its enrollment,” he wrote.
Carl Tillona, the school’s executive director, called the decision an affirmation of the hard work that he and his staff have done to improve their operation.
“We’re very pleased that the commissioner and the Board of Education has recognized the need to continue the virtual school experiment in Massachusetts,” said Tillona. “This vote is more than just a renewal. It’s an understanding of the need for virtual education that serves the kind of students who are enrolled at MAVA.”
In his report, Chester noted a review of the school in March 2015 showed that it had made progress toward meeting most terms of its probation. A second review in November found that it had since worked to improve support for disabled students and invested in staff to help make students’ adjustment to the virtual environmental easier.
The school continues to struggle in meeting the condition that it improve its English language arts and mathematics instruction and student performance, the report said, but met five out of the six conditions of the probation.
Chester noted that interviews with parents and students found consistent support for the school’s ability to accommodate students with unique challenges or circumstances — such as those with social anxiety, problems focusing in traditional classrooms, medical issues, or lives that require frequent travel, Tillona explained.
“When I began (at the school), it quickly became obvious that our school was serving a different population of students,” he said, noting that the school has a higher proportion of both high academic achievers looking for alternative or more challenge coursework not offered in traditional schools and students with learning disabilities. It lacks a large population of students with average performance.
Tillona, in an interview with The Recorder, said the school’s MCAS scores represented an “apples to oranges” comparison within the statewide K-12 cohort in which the school is placed, noting that an independent analysis the school commissioned showed that students were often on par with or above scores in the district they would have been in if they hadn’t been attending MAVA.
“The Commonwealth’s experiment with virtual schools is still new and worth continuing,” Chester wrote, though he noted that he believes the way the law that authorizes them works is flawed.
Chester wrote that he’s concerned about the ability of a localized board of trustees to effectively govern a state-wide school on an all-volunteer, part-time basis, and about the quality of the education management organizations that operate them. MAVA currently contracts with the for-profit education company K12 Inc. for those services.
He also recommended doing away with a requirement for virtual schools to ensure that at least 5 percent of enrolled students reside within the district that established the school. MAVA currently sits at 2.7 percent, which is only allowed by a special act of legislation set to expire in July.
“A statewide (virtual school) established in a smaller community like Greenfield puts the school’s future at risk if it cannot enroll that number of students,” he wrote.
Chester noted that if the school does not demonstrate significant and sustained academic improvement in math, English and science by the end of 2017, the board will consider revoking the school’s charter earlier than the three-year mark.
Letters of support for the renewal were submitted to the board from Mayor William Martin, as well as from students at the school or their parents.
The Academy was the first Commonwealth Virtual School to open in the state in 2013. It was originally founded as an innovation school under the Greenfield School Department. It currently serves about 661 students statewide, and there are currently 54 students on the school’s wait list, according to Chester’s report.
The school is currently accepting bids for a new curriculum and management company.
You can reach Tom Relihan at: trelihan@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 264 On Twitter, follow @RecorderTom